Cat .. James Cat

Well Bosslady has finaly put me on Catster and what does she do? She put all my nicknames in Dutch on it. Now all you non-dutch don't get it. Meooow! *shakes head an sighs* Humans.

Ok I admit, that is what she calls me, but she could have at least translated it. So I will do it in stead.

Manneke (Mah-na-keh) -> Little Man
Lummel (Leh-mehl) -> Galoot
Grote (Grrohta) -> Big *put an effort on the r as in purrr
Lieverd (Lee-furt) -> Darling
Mafkees (mahf-case) -> Weirdo
Boef (Bouf) -> Rascal
Anything added with je (jah) is a dimiutive. In dutch it is also often used as an expression of affection or contempt. In my case obviously affection.
So boefje is little rascal, but said with tenderness.
Same goes for ie (ee), but then in the "Drents" dialect. Drenthe is a province of Holland where my Bosslady comes from.

I'm sorry I can't give the proper pronounciation voor "Luilak" 'cause there's no sound in english that is similar to the dutch sound the letters "ui" make. It's somewhere between "ou" and "oy".

I will also translate the nicknames Bosslady has for my forced-upon-me little sister Nina and my mommy Sheila. Actually Sheila is not my birthmommy, but when Bosslady took me home with her away from my birthmother, Sheila adopted me and became my new mommy.

Nienepien (neen-eh-peen) is not really a word just play on Nina's name, as is Nientje (neen-che).
Mon Petite is actualy French and I have no idea why Bosslady uses French. But being a Belgian cat I know a little French and it means "my little".
Madammeke (Mah-dahm-meh-keh) - Little woman. Why Bosslady preceeds it with Mon Petite, making My little little woman I have no clue. Must be a human thing.
Kleintje (Clayn-che) - Little one
Tuttebel (Tut-eh-bell) - Little Twit
Ukkepuk (Ehk-eh-pehk) - Tiny Tot
Do you see a pattern here? Nina is really small. MOL *grin*

I have to add a little about the dutch "g"and "ch" sound. It is extremely gutteral and I translated it with gr, but actually it is more a deeper sound like a snore. Dutch is a strange language my cats, very strange indeed.

Well that concludes my dutch lessons for now. Hope you found it understandable and interesting. Gonna go take a nap now.
MEOW
Jamie